McLaughlin’s Laguna Seca win ends a 36-race wait

Scott McLaughlin ended a 36-race wait on Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, winning the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey from pole and leading 87 of the 95 laps. His previous victory came at the Milwaukee Mile on 1 September 2024, almost exactly two years earlier.

It was the last race of the 2026 season, and the Team Penske driver made it look like the least complicated afternoon of his year.

One caution, 87 laps led, and no answer from anyone

The only full course caution came on the opening lap, when Sting Ray Robb’s Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet hit the back of Dennis Hauger’s Dale Coyne Racing Honda at Turn 6 and put the rookie into the tyre barrier. Robb was given a ten second stop and go for it.

After that the race settled into a procession at the front. McLaughlin controlled the restart, made three stops and never gave the lead away for longer than a pit cycle. Kyle Kirkwood got closest, closing to within 1.2 seconds on lap 72 by running the alternate Firestone tyre, but McLaughlin had the better pace on the primaries and pulled away again. The margin at the flag was 1.3739 seconds.

Kirkwood, who started sixth, was pragmatic about it. “We just played it super clean, super methodical,” he said. “Second place is best of the rest.”

Rossi’s first podium since June 2024

Alexander Rossi completed the podium for Ed Carpenter Racing, his first podium finish since June 2024 and the team’s best road course result of the season.

“There was a lot of doubt coming into this event,” Rossi said. “This is just a huge reward for all the effort.”

David Malukas took fifth in the second Team Penske Chevrolet, giving the team two cars in the top five on a weekend it needed one.

Chevrolet’s 250th pole came a day before the win

McLaughlin’s pole on Saturday was Chevrolet’s 250th in the IndyCar Series, a milestone the manufacturer reached at the final race of the year. He converted it into his eighth IndyCar victory the following afternoon.

In victory lane the relief was obvious. “My little girl hasn’t seen me win yet, and she finally has,” he said. “So, Dad’s coming home with a trophy, baby. Let’s go!” He then turned to the champion: “Congrats Alex on his fifth. We’re working hard to be better, but today was a big step in the right direction.”

Palou finishes eighth with the title already won

Alex Palou came to Laguna Seca as champion. He had clinched the Astor Challenge Cup a week earlier at Milwaukee, his fifth IndyCar title and his fourth in a row, and he finished the finale eighth before celebrating with donuts on track.

He ends the year on 631 points, 86 clear of Kirkwood, who took second in the standings by ten points from Christian Lundgaard. Pato O’Ward was fourth on 522.

Dixon’s last race in Ganassi colours ended 17th

The result nobody will remember but everybody noticed was 17th. That was Scott Dixon, in his 415th and final start for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Twenty five seasons with one team, six championships, and 58 of his 59 career wins in their cars. He won in 22 of those 25 seasons, including 21 in a row, which is a run no other driver in the sport has come close to. He moves to Arrow McLaren for 2027.

“Twenty-five years,” Dixon said at Laguna Seca. “It’s been fantastic, and it’s been a lot of fun with all those people. We’ll continue to all be friends, and obviously I’m not going far.”

A 17th place is not the send off the numbers deserved. Then again, nobody stays 25 years anywhere by caring much about the last afternoon.

Hauger takes Rookie of the Year from the tyre barrier

Dennis Hauger’s season ended in the wall on lap one, and he still won Rookie of the Year. The Dale Coyne driver finished the year on 228 points, fifteen ahead of Mick Schumacher, having done enough over the previous seventeen rounds to make the finale irrelevant to the outcome.

Neither Hauger nor his team mate Romain Grosjean has an announced seat for 2027. Winning a rookie title in a year when your next contract is still open is the kind of position IndyCar puts drivers in more often than it should.

Our view: a win that raises a question rather than answers one

Thirty six races is a long time for a driver of McLaughlin’s quality, and the way he won at Laguna Seca makes the drought harder to explain rather than easier. This was not a strategy win or a fuel win. He took pole, led from the front and had pace in hand on the tyre his rival could not use.

Penske will spend the winter working out why that version of the car and driver showed up in September and not in May. Palou, meanwhile, has won four titles in a row, and the rest of the field has an off season to think about that.

The 2027 season opens on 7 March on the streets of St Petersburg. All our race reports and results are in our IndyCar coverage.